hiking Archives - dismal wilderness

November 17, 2024November 17, 2024

Scrambling Sunnyside II and Buckets (Flatirons)

June 10, 2024

Arrival

We arrived at the large (and largely empty) parking lot beside the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). A brutalist research lab rose up on this grassy plateau, surrounded by open rolling hills peppered with tall, sparse evergreens. Behind the lab, rising much higher in the distance, were the southerly rock formations of Boulder’s famed Flatirons. The lot also doubled as a trailhead for recreating amongst these giant rock slabs.

November 10, 2024November 10, 2024

Monument Canyon (Colorado National Monument)

January 20, 2024

Arrival

I pulled into the small trailhead parking lot below Monument Canyon around 8 am. Being mid-January, this meant the sun was only just beginning to rise above the tall hills and mesas to the East. Above me was Colorado National Monument, in my opinion among the most underrated units in the National Park system. Less than a mile in the opposite direction was the muddy floodplain of the Colorado River.

November 8, 2024November 8, 2024

Sassafras Mountain (South Carolina)

October 13, 2023

Arrival

I reached Chimney Top Gap, and the Beech Bottom Falls Trailhead, around 8 am. Morning sunshine already poked through the trees near the trailhead. It was a luxuriously late start for the final hike in my Southern Appalachians high pointing tour.

November 5, 2024November 5, 2024

Brasstown Bald via Wolfpen Ridge

October 12, 2023

Arrival

I drove winding roads, into the heart of the Chattahoochee National Forest. It was just after sunrise, on a rainy Thursday in October. Which is to say, I had these country byways all to myself. Fall colors were just coming in in these southernmost hills of the Appalachians.

November 2, 2024November 2, 2024

Kuwohi (Great Smoky Mountains NP)

October 10, 2023

Bumper to Bumper

It was drizzly and overcast as I cruised up the gentle switchbacks of Kuwohi Road. Even on these highest peaks of the Smokies, peak Fall foliage would not arrive for another week or two. But tinges of reds and oranges still festooned select stands of precocious hardwoods.

November 2, 2024November 2, 2024

Charlies Bunion (Great Smoky Mountains NP)

October 10, 2023

Arrival

I left Gatlinburg well before dawn, in hopes of getting up and into Great Smoky Mountains National Park sans traffic jams. This basically worked. I wound my way through the pitch darkness of the forest, en route to the high ridge crest at Newfound Gap. The lack of views did not bum me out: I’d be coming back the same way later that day.

October 29, 2024October 29, 2024

Craggy Pinacle

October 9, 2023

The Blue Ridge Parkway

My day began early, beneath Mount Mitchell, which I had hiked the day prior. The plan was to drive the famed Blue Ridge Parkway around sunrise, from the Black Mountains to Asheville. Starting at this somewhat remote mid-point at such an early hour, I hoped to avoid getting stuck behind any camper vans or traffic snarls.

October 29, 2024October 29, 2024

Mount Mitchell

October 8, 2023

Arrival

I pulled into the trailhead along the South Toe River well before dawn. I was deep in the remote heart of the Black Mountains of North Carolina, ready to take on the state’s auspicious high point: Mount Mitchell.

October 28, 2024November 2, 2024

Mount Rogers (Virginia)

October 7, 2023

Arrival

I pulled into the carpark at Massie Gap shortly after sunrise. The winding drive had already taken me well above 4000′ and I got the sense there were views to be had, even down at the trailhead. But low lying clouds and fog obscured all but the nearest forested slopes. It was a moody fall day in Grayson Highlands.

October 27, 2024October 27, 2024

Devil’s Causeway

September 30, 2023

The Flat Top Mountains

We rolled through the small, sleepy town of Yampa, well before dawn. Already we had drove nearly an hour north from i70, passing only the occasional cabin or ranch. We had 40 minutes of driving left, along a narrow byway into the Flat Tops.